Generally, a computer system or an electronic device has a variety of IC parts installed inside the casing thereof, such as a CPU, a power supply, and a circuit board whereon various electrical components are mounted. A great quantity of heat is generated during computer operation when electric current flows through electric circuits, which are densely placed in chips or on a circuit board. Therefore, to achieve the objective of reducing operating temperature, a fan member must be installed in a computer system or an electronic device to circulate air and radiate heat; otherwise accumulated heat inside the casing of a computer system or an electronic device during operation will raise the temperature and shorten the life-span of computer chips or other electrical components. Moreover, serious damage may be caused by burnout of computer chips or electric circuits; thereby a computer or an electronic device can immediately fail to operate thereafter.
The aforesaid conventional fan member is installed inside the casing of a computer system or an electronic device for radiating heat as shown in FIG. 1. Such conventional fan member is composed of a square-shaped frame, a motor, which is installed inside the frame for generating rotary power, and fan blades coupled with a motor transmission shaft. The motor generates power from electric current, thereby revolving the fan blades to circulate air and generate airflow, thereby exhausting the heat generated inside the casing of a computer system or an electronic device. Consequently, such fan member achieves the objective of maintaining an acceptable operating temperature inside the computer system or electronic device during operation.
The assembly method of the aforesaid conventional cooling fan is shown in FIG. 1. The said computer fan member 2 has a strip 201 installed on a lateral side of a frame 20. A rail rest 203 is correspondingly installed inside the casing of a computer system or an electronic device, enabling the strip 201 of the fan member 2 to be slid into a track 204 established between the casing and the rail rest 203. Moreover, the fan member 2 is secured to a rack 206 of the casing by a screw 205 penetrating a hole 207 on the rack 206. During the assembly process of such conventional fan member, a technician has to carefully direct the strip 201 of the fan member 2 into the track 204 of the rail rest 203 such that the strip 201 can be smoothly slid into and fixed with the rail rest 203 by the screw 205. This assembly process, however, consumes a great amount of time and labor. Another problem during assembly is that the screw could easily be dropped or lost. So, it is obvious that the assembly process of such conventional fan member 2 needs to be improved.
Another conventional fan member assembly is shown in FIG. 2. A rack 301 has a sheet metal cover 302 bent and coupled to the rack 301 inside the casing of a computer system. A space is created by the cover 302 and the rack 301 whereon the bent cover 302 is secured such that the fan member 3 can be installed inside. In that the aforesaid sheet metal cover 302 occupies large space inside a computer system, the space for placing other electrical components is reduced prior to installation of the fan. Therefore, this assembly method makes it difficult to design a system with less volume. Currently, computer product design aims at shrinking the volume and providing exquisite appearance, but such conventional fan member installation impedes creating small, attractive design and, therefore needs to be improved.
Consequently, it is greatly desired to develop an integrally formed fan assembly mechanism with the advantages of reducing the cost and space necessary for assembling components inside an electronic device while allowing rapid assembly and disassembly.